UK's 'Turing Law' will posthumously pardon thousands of men convicted of having gay sex

The UK government has announced that it will posthumously pardon thousands of gay and bisexual men convicted of sexual offenses which have since been abolished in England and Wales.

Living men will also be eligible for a pardon under the proposal.

The law is dubbed the "Turing Law" after Alan Turing, the World War II codebreaker who was the subject of the 2014 film The Imitation Game. Despite his heroic service to the war effort, Turing was subjected to chemical castration after he acknowledged to officials that was gay. He committed suicide in 1954. Nearly sixty years after his death, Queen Elizabeth II posthumously pardoned Turing in 2013.

Turing's pardon led many to ask about the other thousands of men who were subjected to a similar fate.

Gay sex was decriminalized for men aged over 21 in England and Wales in 1967. Scotland and Northern Ireland changed their laws in 1980 and 1982, respectively.

In a statement, Justice Minister Sam Gylmah said that under the new law the government will pardon living men convicted of sexual crimes that are no longer on the books.